1973
Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" is edited without his knowledge for a live appearance on American Bandstand.
Atlantic Records decides to change the title and lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Starfucker" in order to avoid protests.
New York Senator James Buckley writes a report linking rock music to drug use. He calls for the record industry to eliminate drug-using or drug-endorsing rock musicians before the federal government feels it necessary to take action....
- 1980
Fearing association with its theme, Mercury Records refuses to release Frank Zappa's single "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted."
A representative of the New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services suggests enforcing a tax on musicians whose songs promote drug use.
In October, Youth Minister Art Diaz organizes a group of local teenagers who conduct a record burning at the First Assembly Church of God in Des Moines, Iowa, including albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, Peter Frampton, and the soundtrack to the movie Grease. A similar burning takes place a few months later in Keoku, Iowa, where a church group burns the work of The Carpenters, John Denver, and Perry Como.
1981
A municipal judge in Newark, Ohio, bans rock concerts at the Legend Valley Park because they pose a public nuisance.
Believing that rock condones drug abuse and promiscuous sex, Carroll, Iowa, nightclub owner Jeff Jochims renounces his transgressions and sets fire to $2,000 worth of rock records.
The morals of Provo and Salt Lake City residents are saved when two radio stations ban Olivia Newton John's hit single "Physical." The stations fear that the song's lyrics may be a bit too suggestive much for their heavily Mormon audiences.
1982
Ozzy Osbourne is forbidden from performing in San Antonio, Texas, after he is arrested for urinating on the Alamo. Osbourne's various legal troubles also prevent him from playing in several other cities, including Boston, Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
California assemblyman Phil Wyman introduces a bill to outlaw the practice of including subliminal messages in rock records.
1983
Roger Wilcher, a Baptist youth minister in Emporia, Virginia, petitions the city council to remove MTV from the local cable system.
Voice of America programmer Frank Scott issues a directive to staff that they are not permitted to play music which might offend any portion of their audience.
1984
Rick Allen and his wife express concerns over a Prince album to their local PTA meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. This action started the mid-80s music censorship movement that eventually results in the RIAA universal parental warning sticker....
Article comments
1 - Chris
There are several examples in there of real Censorship, but the rest of the list is not. Only when the Government supresses speech in some form can it be truly called censorship. The rest are examples of people/businesses exercising judgement about what they will/will not release and/or play. There is no right to a record contract, and there is no right to radio play. Ask David Allan Coe.